VINEYARD: The Gravitas-owned Saint Arnaud’s vineyard is the sole source of the fruit for this wine. This vineyard, located at the western end of the Wairau Valley at the confluence of the two key rivers of the region, the Wairau and Waihopai, is slightly cooler than areas closer to the sea. The temperature characteristics of this vineyard aligned with the free-draining, stony soils give wines that show an interesting range of fruit and mineral characters.

Intense hand-work is utilised in the vineyard to ensure that the fruit is both true to variety and also to the site. Cropping is maintained at a low, balanced level and techniques such as shoot-thinning and leaf-plucking are practised to ensure that at the time of picking the fruit is at optimum and consistent physiological ripeness.

VINIFICATION: The two top Chardonnay clones, Mendoza and UCD15, were chosen to make this wine which was fermented totally in tanks. Hand picking and whole bunch pressing at optimum times between 28th March and 2nd April accentuated the ripe characters from the fruit.  The idea of the style is to utilise the fruit characters, rather than oak, to show what this variety can achieve in Marlborough.

The juice was fermented with both indigenous (resident) and selected yeasts to add to complexity and the wine was left on yeast lees for eight months prior to blending. The fermentation was allowed to rise to relatively warm temperatures in order to enhance palate texture, which is balanced by the fruit characteristics from the vineyard.  

 The various portions were kept separate so that a wide number of options were available at the time of blending to ensure an optimum blend was achieved. 

VINEYARD: The Gravitas-owned Saint Arnaud’s vineyard is the sole source of the fruit for this wine. This vineyard, located at the western end of the Wairau Valley at the confluence of  the two key rivers of the region, the Wairau and Waihopai, has a cooler climate than most of the Marlborough region and much greater day-night variation in temperature.  The vineyard’s perfectly free draining alluvial gravels descend to a depth of 300 metres and these give our wines a mineral note. 

Each of our vines has its own computerised record and each vine is meticulously looked after, with cropping maintained at a low, balanced level and techniques such as shoot-thinning and leaf-plucking practised throughout the growing season.  All harvesting is done by hand and the grapes are picked very early in the morning (when it is cool and aromatic intensity is greatest).  Each block is separately harvested on up to six different days to ensure only the very best grapes enter the winery. 

VINIFICATION: A range of 24 clones/rootstock combinations were picked at separate times between the 30th March and 10th April, all by hand, then destemmed and fermented mainly in open topped fermentation vessels using various management techniques so that a wide number of options were available at the time of blending.

Fermentation at high temperatures was allowed and the wine was then left on light yeast lees, for 12 months, so that the yeast cells add flavour and palate texture to the final wine.    The quality of the grapes and the gentle handling was such that no fining or filtration was required prior to bottling, thus enabling us to keep the wine true to its origins and to retain a maximum of fruit in the finished wine.

TASTING COMMENTS: This is a wine of unusually intense colour with a rich aromatic concentration of ripe fruit and forest floor characters, giving complexity.   Cherry and red berry fruit predominate on the long palate with a classic French-style overlay of leather and spice.  The wine is dry with residual sugar of <1 g/L, pH of 3.58 and an alcohol level of 14.5%.

VINEYARD: The Gravitas-owned Saint Arnaud’s vineyard is the sole source of the fruit for this wine. This vineyard, located at the western end of the Wairau Valley at the confluence of the two key rivers of the region, the Wairau and Waihopai, is slightly cooler than areas closer to the sea. The temperature characteristics of this vineyard aligned with the free-draining stony soils give wines that show an interesting range of fruit and mineral characters.

Intense hand-work is utilised in the vineyard to ensure that the fruit is both true to variety and also to the site. Cropping is maintained at a low, balanced level and techniques such as shoot-thinning and leaf-plucking are practised to ensure that at the time of picking the fruit is at optimum and consistent physiological ripeness.

VINIFICATION: A range of 6 clones/rootstock combinations were picked at separate times between 4th and 17th April, all by hand, whole cluster pressed for gentle extraction and fermented individually so that a wide number of options were available at the time of blending.

The fermentation was maintained at a relatively low temperature so that the fruit characters were maintained and then left on yeast lees, for four months, so that the yeast cells start to break down and add flavour and palate texture to the final wine.  Once fermentation was finished, the blending took place in September and the wine bottled in October 2004. 

TASTING COMMENTS: This is a wine of great aromatic concentration and length, with hints of passionfruit and melon, and stronger citrus notes that are common in Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Beautifully balanced and concentrated, we expect it to cellar well for 2-3 years.

The wine is dry with residual sugar of <1 g/L, pH of 3.2 and an alcohol level of 13.0%.